The present invention relates to a furnace for melting metal and more particularly to an improved reverberatory furnace for melting aluminum.
The normal reverberatory furnace includes a closed furnace chamber in which a molten metal bath is contained and a burner which directly fires over the surface of the molten metal bath. The furnace atmosphere, i.e. the exhaust gases and uncombusted waste products, are contained within the furnace chamber until they exit through the exhaust stack. Such exhaust gases are normally exhausted at a temperature range between 1200.degree. to 2200.degree. F.
It is of primary importance in good furnace design to have sufficient heat absorbing area for efficient thermal energy transfer. The burners must be properly sized and located for flame distribution and gas flow. In order to have sufficient heat absorbing area, however, the furnace must be dimensioned so that there is a sufficient area for the flame path to pass over the molten surface. This may require that the furnace be unnecessarily large for the amount of molten metal to be contained.
Still another problem is that because some of the exhaust gases from charge contaminents are not fully combusted, they must be either passed through special filtering mechanisms or must be further combusted requiring the addition of extra fuel in the exhaust system. This is economically inefficient and wasteful of natural fuel resources.